Europaschutzgebiet Ettenau

The construction of power stations has fundamentally changed the natural landscapes along most rivers. One of the last sections where a river can flow freely is the Upper Austrian-Bavarian Salzach. The Ettenau European nature reserve therefore protects a habitat for animals and plants that has become extremely rare today.

Almost 60 kilometres of the Salzach on the border between Bavaria and Upper Austria are uninterrupted by a barrage. This means, for example, that fish can still migrate, spawn and reproduce freely here. For example, the Huchen, which has long since disappeared from other rivers. The grey alder, ash and willow meadows with their numerous oxbow lakes and litter meadows are home to a wide variety of insect species and breeding birds. Together with other neighbouring protected areas, such as the Lower Inn, the Ettenau forms a large-scale breeding and wintering area for birds of European importance. The corncrake, which has become extremely rare, breeds here. Honey buzzards and kingfishers can be found here as well as red-backed shrikes and great egrets. Even ospreys can be seen passing through the pristine and near-natural forests of the Ettenau on the border river Salzach. Beavers, known as lumberjacks and dam builders, also find an attractive habitat here. The forests of the Ettenau are still flooded and fed by the high waters of the Salzach, which make an important contribution to the preservation of this ecosystem. Nature observers can explore this extraordinary landscape on the Tauern Cycle Path, for example, which accompanies the Salzach from Salzburg on its way to its confluence with the Inn.